These past couple weeks, we started working on getting our models started, as well as our files organized and our storyboard finalized. I'm super proud of all of us, honestly. Considering where we are and what we have to do, we're doing super well!! The schedule is figured out decently far into the future, and I'm working on getting everything fully completed in that section. I'm hoping I can plan out around a month in advance consistantly, so no one is ever wondering what they need to be doing. I'm going to start asking about UV layouts and assigning those to people next Monday.
To be honest I haven't worked on much new stuff since the last blog post. I did some, of course, but most of my time and effort was once again put towards the schedule I am working on. That's not to say it's the only think I'm doing, of course. I have also been working on some ribbon spool props for the background of our environments. I only just finished modeling them today, and spent an extra hour or two outside of class getting started on the UVs. They aren't perfect by any means, but they are going to be in the background, so I think what I have going on is just fine. They're clean models, if nothing else.
I had a bit of trouble with triangles, down where the ribbon end tapers into two points. But I managed to fix everything into quads, and I'm hoping everything can just be duplicated as many times as needed for each ribbon spool in the set. I'm going to combine each of the pieces and organize their UVs so that it's easier for whoever gets it next to texture/place in the scene. I'm hoping to have these completed, UVs and all, by the end of this week. As for what I'm going to be doing next, since I mostly reside as the benevolent ruler of the schedule, I'm going to work on UVs for other models that others have done, so that we can get those UVs finalized too. I fully understand not liking UVs and not wanting to mess with them, but the texturers are going to have enough issues without having to deal with funky UVs. If I can make that a bit easier, than I will try. I think I'll leave the UVs of our characters to some of the others who are more experienced with UVs and textures though. I don't trust myself to unwrap a yarnball.
We got. . .quite the feedback on our Production Plan, and honestly I'm not too surprised at the criticisms we got. Doesn't mean it wasn't hard to hear. I struggle with taking feedback without taking it personally. But that's something I'm working on, an I'm getting much better at it, I think. Jeremy was right though. I forgot to include blocks for people who were working on the Storyboard, so that they knew they were supposed to do that. It completely slipped my mind. I think Celia's section does have a Storyboard block in there somewhere at the beginning, but later on it doesn't, and that was entirely my fault. As someone who prides themself on remembering and organizing everything, I definately felt a bit inadequate. But I'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen again in the future. Hopefully, the others will also point out if I am missing something in the schedule as well. I don't want anyone else touching the document itself, but giving me reminders or feedback is certainly helpful. I'm not perfect, after all.
Our group is organized fairly well, but we are a bit unprofessional when it comes to our pillars and working agreements. That's something we definately need to hammer out a bit more. Rianne is going to format and specify those documents, and then the rest of us are going to comment on and edit it until it's to everyone's satisfaction. I think that's a good way to do things. A phrase that comes to mind when thinking about this project is "too many cooks spoil the broth". Which basically means, too many people working on one thing can cause a lot of issues with said thing. I feel like that's why our group has worked on seperating things into smaller groups or pairs for parts of the project instead of all of us trying to do everything. It's simpler that way. That doesn't mean we're not working together as a whole, though. We are!! But having one or two people in charge of modeling, or texturing, etc, and calling the more technical shots is useful. Things get done faster that way.
I'm working on trying to take time to work on this class's material in between my homework for other classes, because nothing in this class has a firm "due date" really. At least, nothing extremely project focused. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. It takes a bit more planning than I'm used to, but I'm starting to give myself more and more time to work on this project in between my work for other classes.
I'm hoping that, moving forward, things start to smooth out a little more as we get in the groove of things. I want our group to be like a well oiled machine. Even if we mess up or break occaisionally, I think we have what it takes to make it through it. I am hoping I have enough mental and emotional strength to make it through any pitfalls we come across. I am very insecure about my work and my ability to accept feedback and criticism, because I struggle so much with getting work done and taking in constructive criticism without getting personally offended, and I don't want to be the student who throws tantrums in the middle of class simply because they were told their work needs a bit of adjustment. I'm trying really hard not to let that happen, but it's a struggle. My brain is very rigid, and while I can be fairly flexible at times, I struggle with negative feedback a lot, so I get upset when something I've personally worked on is criticized in any way.
Struggling with autistic burnout is also hard, because I just don't have as much energy as many of my classmates do. Well, technically I do, but certain things, like talking to others, figuring out plans that involve multiple people, taking and processing feedback without getting upset, and more, take up a good deal more of my energy than it does for other people. I always worry I'm not working enough, and yet at the same time am stuck with this feeling of doing too much, and I'm not entirely sure which thought is the correct one. This project isn't an easy cut and dry step by step list of criteria that I can compare my work to, it's a creative process and a journey. I need to accept that and do my best with what I have, but sometimes, I worry that no matter what I do, I'm not good enough for my group. I'm going to try though. I'm going to try my very best so that when we reach the end of this project, if nothing else, I can be proud of the work I've accomplished and what we've done.
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